HFMD- warning: graphic images

HFMD... also known as Hand Foot and Mouth Disease. It's as gross as it sounds, and prior to now I thought it was something only animals got. However children do indeed get it, often from sharing toys with snot and slobber on it-- but apparently adults can get it too. I'm so embarrassed I caught a baby disease! I originally thought it was from the mass amount of little delicious clementines I was eating. WRONG.

 For the last week Drew and I have been eating pudding, yogurt and popsicles (Drew usually eating in the bath). We've been trying not to disturb all the blisters that have formed in our mouths. Drew has little blisters also on his hands and feet.

 I never had HFMD as a child, so as an adult I am more susceptible-- and now that I think about it, I never had chickenpox either! I think it has been nice to have had this sickness at the same time as Drew because as I eat something terribly painful I know not to give it to him. Hopefully this explains his horrible sleeping habits lately.

Tis the Season

We've been busy celebrating this wonderful holiday season so I will start at the beginning of our festivities.

Thanksgiving break was great. We lounged around, ate good food, went shopping, and hung out with friends. It was nice to spend some time with Spencer before he fell off the face of the planet as he studies for his first semester of law school finals.

We actually had Thanksgiving at our house. I wouldn't really say we hosted because we didn't make the turkey which is a big part of hosting, we basically provided the place to eat because our lack of furniture made it easy to maneuver tables and chairs into our family room.

Everyone brought great dishes. After playing games, talking, looking at Black Friday ads, we busted out the pie. Which was also divine. When I finally remembered to take a picture it was of only empty dishes. I would say Thanksgiving Dinner was a success.

Aunt Diane's Famous Creamed Corn

Some friends and I went out shopping around 10:00pm to be the first at all the deals while Spencer and Drew stayed in the nice warm house. We got some great things but above all I bought a vest. a fur vest. at 3:00 in the morning at the outlet mall. picture this...

The Saturday of Thanksgiving break a group of friends went up to Skaeneatles, NY to see the whole city participate in Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol" Festival. I wasn't expecting much so I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun it was. People were handing out eggnog and chestnuts roasted on an open fire. Residents walked around in costumes acting in character wishing people a Merry Christmas. There was caroling and a nice big tree out on a long dock in the lake.

 More recent events included our branch Christmas party. Drew is not quite yet in nursery but since the numbers are so small he was asked to participate in the nativity as a sheep.

He kind of hated wearing his cotton ball shirt but oh well. Spencer, of course, was studying for finals so while I ate my prime rib dinner Drew took ornaments off the Christmas tree and shattered them on the gym floor. 

Mobile Uploads: Chapter 4

Since I was without a phone for most of the summer these mobile uploads post have been nonexistent. However now I am fully equipped again and ready to roll...

 Here is our apartment the day we moved in. Hasn't really changed in the three months we've been here.

Spencer refused to stand with a piece of paper like we did HERE but whatevs, I snapped this picture after I dropped him off as I awkwardly reached out the passenger window. Happy first day of law school!

This area of the world is interesting. People are so ...... I really can't find the best word to use. It's not a negative thing it's just a different thing than I'm use to. For example I have no problem eating off styrofoam, but since living here I am now understanding a life of recycling and going green. So not only do all the foods at public events come in Vegan, Gluten-free, vegetarian, and Kosher but the supplies on which they serve the food is always 100% compostable. This was at some law school shindig.

I started babysitting when I was ten. Sometimes for $5/hour or sometimes even less than that. I would save my money and seriously contemplate on which Beanie Baby I was going to buy. After I made the purchase and took it home in the brown paper bag (don't really remember why the beanie babies were always in brown lunch sacks) I would put a little plastic cover on the TY tag and put it on a shelf. To me they were collectors items and over the years as I've seen the prices on eBay drop, and drop and drop I've decided that those beanie babies were a waste of my hard earned cash. I now let Drew play with them and smear chocolate and yogurt all over their fuzzy faces. I saw this display at the mall and was floored. Some of the beanie babies in the bin were some of the rarest to be found. I only looked for a minute, but of course refused to buy animal shaped bean bags.

Saw this on a door at our hotel in Boston. Weird. 

Drew's chubby self tried to get into this toy cart at our neighbors house. hahahahah enough said.

This to me is the epitome of Ithaca. A Subaru with plenty of bumper stickers.

I don't really know what to say about this one.

As Drew and I were leaving the gym he felt like he had to smear his face on every piece of available glass. This was shortly after I saw a guy with a windex bottle and a towel. oops.

 This is by far Drew's favorite thing to see at the grocery store. Something about being near an ocean that makes for some sweet lobsters in the grocery store.

Mobile Uploads: Chapter 1
Mobile Uploads: Chapter 2
Mobile Uploads: Chapter 3

Syracuse Zoo

 We crammed 5 carseats and 3 adults into Lindseys Pilot and headed up to Syracuse to enjoy the warm weather and the zoo. Courtney looks thrilled to have her hips dislocated between the two boys for the hour long drive.

The whole group

 

 The boys checking out the penguins and stomping in some unknown smelly substance.

 

The monkeys were awesome. The monkeys are always my favorite at any zoo I visit, and these monkeys were some of the best. There was a tiny baby monkey and a teenage brother monkey that were fighting each other running around the cage-- the boys loved it.

Drew now knows how to "roar" when he sees pictures of tigers and lions so I would say the zoo was a success.

Spencer turns 26!

We celebrated Spencer's birthday over the weekend (a couple different times). On Saturday we tried a place here called Wings Over Ithaca. It claims to have been voted best wings in Ithaca, which we laughed about because how much competition do they have? Well the claims didn't disappoint. I don't even like wings and the place was great. We went a little earlier before the dinner rush so Drew ran around while we covered our fingers in yummy sauces.

On Sunday (Spencer's actual birthday) we got together at the Lewis' home (due to our lack of furniture) to celebrate with friends. We had lots of cookies and tons of icecream to assemble SmartCookie Sandwiches. I didn't get any pictures of the night except Drew and Chet who showed up in the same pajamas.

Happy Birthday Spencer! We love you!

Oxiclean: the stain specialist

First off, did anyone know that bananas stain clothes? I never would have thought... but when I got some of Drew's clothes out of the dryer and saw some weird brown spots on a couple of the shirts I couldn't figure it out. Was there a marker in there or something? It was weird because they were all only dirty around the neckline (where Drew typically spills his food...) After I discovered that it was bananas I thought about just presoaking the clothes, maybe putting some prewash stuff on it and then washing them again... well that was like 5 washes and 2 months ago...

Drew has just been wearing this shirt with the stains on it like a grungy kid

A neighbor told me that Oxiclean would take banana stains out but she had never used it on clothes that had been washed and dried (multiple times) So I tried it anyway.... and presto...

I'm still kind of shocked at how easy it was and how well it worked. You can't really tell in the picture but the shirt is a cream color. The color didn't change or bleach out at all. So later I tried it on a lot more clothes, and they all look great! I just boiled some water and worked out a little concoction and soaked the clothes. It was weird but it worked. I picture methamphetamine makers looking kind of similar...stirring chemicals in a bowl in their kitchen...